I was going through my back-issues of Loadstar disk magazine, which I have on compact disc, when I came across a really interesting article on the first issue of Loadstar for the Commodore 128. It was an article on how to make your own RGBI video cable out of a standard RCA cable, so you can utilize the 128’s eighty column mode without having to have an RGB compatible monitor.
The article (see below) goes on to explain that the drawback to using the 80 column mode this way is that you bypass the RGB signal and are only accessing the 80 column monochrome channel. So, all you are left with are three colours: black, white and gray. Anything in colour is translated into these three so-called colours. The article gives a detailed table of how these colours are translated.
It then goes on and provides you with a parts list of what you will need to make this cable, along with Radio Shack SKU numbers for these parts, as well as their prices (back in the day). You are even given a diagram as to which pins to use, on the DB-9 connector.
So, with this information, I decided to make one of these cables for myself.
The only DB-9 connector I had was this breakout board style connector. But it should work well to test things out. If this cable works well, I can make up something more permanent later.
The RCA cable I used was just your standard cable you'd use to hook up your video signal (from your DVD, VCR or whatever player) to the video cable on the back of your T.V. - the yellow plug cable. I cut one end of the yellow RCA plug off and stripped the casing back to expose the two smaller wires inside. There's a "center" signal wire and an "outside" ground wire.
I proceeded to connect my RCA cable, as described in the article (center wire to pin 7 and ground wire to pin 1 or 2) and then taped everything up with electrical tape. Then, I plugged the 9 pin DIN end into my 128 and the yellow RCA plug into my RCA/S-video to VGA converter box, which then plugged into my VGA monitor via it's VGA output. If this works, it will be the first time in a long time, that I get to run my 128 in 80 column mode. I was really hoping the results were good.
And, wouldn’t you know it, the signal on my LCD monitor was clean and quite sharp. It looked better than what I expected it to be. The display would have been even sharper, if I were using an RGB monitor, but the composite signal still produced text that I could easily read. Of course, the real benefits of 80 column mode come into play when using software specifically written for the extra wide screen. Like DraCopy, for example. I much prefer the side-by-side interface, in 80 column mode, when compared to the top-bottom interface in standard mode.
But, what about the issue with everything in monochrome? So far, it’s only been a minor annoyance in games. For example, BurgerWhop. This is one of my favorite 128 games, but it’s only playable in 80 column mode. It looks great, but some of the burger ingredients are black, which makes them invisible on the black screen. A minor annoyance for, what I consider to be, the best version of Burger Time available on the Commodore 64 or 128, which I could only play on an emulator, until now.
However, gaming wasn’t the main reason why I wanted to utilize 80 column mode, on my 128. It’s the applications that I wanted to run, which I couldn’t do before; applications like GEOS. GEOS, for the most part, is a monochrome application. So, it looks perfectly fine in 80 column mode, with this RCA cable. I’m quite confident that most of the other business applications, for the 128, will also look just fine in monochrome.
I did come across a couple of issues (colour-wise) with applications published in Loadstar 128, like Master File II. However, they were easily fixed by changing a few lines in the BASIC code. That's one of the nice things about software in Loadstar: for the most part, they publish software in such a way that you can easily examine and tinker with the code.
It is really surprising at how important a resource Loadstar was for the average Commodore user, back in the day, before there was the Internet. I’m finding that there is quite a bit of useful information, even for today, locked away in it’s electronic pages.
HOW TO MAKE A C128 80-COLUMN CABLE
by Edward J. Corr
You've got your Commodore 128 up
and running. BASIC 7.0 is great; and
you've found interesting 128 and CP/M
software, both commercial and public
domain. And now you're wondering
about 80-column mode. Would you like
it? Would it be truly better in some
applications? Do you have to buy a
$300 RGB monitor to find out?
Not necessarily.
"Would you believe..." you can
find out for only about $7.00, and a
little work on your part. If you can
solder, or have a friend who will do
that small chore for you, you can
easily check out 80-column mode. All
you need is a video cable that can
access it and a standard, NTSC
Composite-input monitor. Sorry, a TV
won't work here unless it also has
direct video input; or unless it's
hooked up to a video cassete recorder
(VCR) that will take auxilliary video
input. But that's another article in
itself.
What you will achieve with the
help of this special cable is a
monochrome (black and white) version
of the 80-column screen. The only
limitation this causes is in the
selection of colors. With the
monochrome arrangement, you can have
three screen colors: black, white,
and gray. This can work just fine
as long as your software has made the
right choices, or gives you the
option to make changes to all assigned
colors. Otherwise some screen
messages, images, etc. may become
invisible when normally different
colors translate into the same color
as your monochrome background color.
Let me explain. The C-128 puts
out 16 different colors on the
80-column RGB "color" screen. The 80-
column "monochrome" screen has three
color choices. Somehow 16 colors
must be squeezed down to three. That
means that five or six different RGB
colors can come out as the same color
in monochrome. The translation table
appears on the next page:
RGB Color Monochrome Color
--------------------------------------
1. BLACK BLACK
2. WHITE WHITE
3. DARK RED GRAY
4. LIGHT CYAN WHITE
5. LIGHT PURPLE WHITE
6. DARK GREEN GRAY
7. DARK BLUE GRAY
8. LIGHT YELLOW WHITE
9. DARK PURPLE GRAY
10. DARK YELLOW GRAY
11. LIGHT RED WHITE
12. DARK CYAN GRAY
13. MEDIUM GRAY BLACK
14. LIGHT GREEN WHITE
15. LIGHT BLUE WHITE
16. LIGHT GRAY GRAY
For example, your background
color is white and a screen message
gets printed in light purple. Since
both of these translate to white in
monochrome, they both end up the same
color, and the message is now
invisible - like the proverbial black
cat in the coal bin. The message,
like the cat, is still there. You
just can't see it since it's now the
identical color as its surroundings
(white letters on a white background).
But, except for this particular
problem, there's no reason why you
can't use your non-RGB monitor for
80-column programs. Here's what you
do.
All of the following parts are
available from various sources. Radio
Shack part numbers (P/N) and prices
are given only as a universal
reference. Where you get these things
makes little difference. The only
item where quality can vary
considerable is the cable; don't try
to save pennies here unless you're
very sure of what you are getting.
1 each DB-9 Male Connector \\
P/N 276-1537 $1.49
1 each DB-9 Connector Hood \\
P/N 276-1539 $1.99
1 each Cable, RCA - RCA, 6' \\
P/N 42-2367 $2.19
NOTE ABOUT RCA - RCA CABLE:
We will be cutting off one end of this cable. If you already have good
quality shielded cable, by all means
use it. I suggest that you keep the
cable four to five feet long; I find
three feet too limiting. Just be sure
it has FULL braid, not the new/cheap
junk that is only partially covered
by braided shielding. You will also
need the RCA plug for one end (such
as the Radio Shack P/N 274-383 or
274-319 or 274-451 packages). For the
best image results, you may even
substitute 75 ohm video cable. Just
be aware that you will give up quite
a bit of cable flexibility, which may
be important on a cramped desk top.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Prepare the Cable. If you are
using an RCA-to-RCA cable, simply cut
off one of the connectors and strip
back the insulation, exposing the
center conductor and the shield. If
you're using bulk cable, go ahead and
solder on the RCA connector, center
conductor to center pin, shield to
connector barrel. Now go ahead and
strip back the other end of the
cable.
2. Add the DB-9 Connector. Time to
solder on the DB-9 connector. Solder
the center conductor of the cable to
Pin 7 of the connector. Solder the
shield braid to either Pin 1 or 2 of
the connector, whichever is
convenient for you. You can even
solder it to both pins, they're tied
together inside the C-128 anyway.
3. Check Your Work. Double check the
solder joints, especially the DB-9
pins. If you used Pins 2 and 7, add
insulation between them (a piece of
electrical tape, sleeving, RTV,
etc.). Consider adding insulation
even if you used Pins 1 and 7; a
cable occasionally gets pushed back
into its connector. If too much
wire was exposed by stripping, it
could bend over and short to other
pins.
4. Add the Hood to the Connector.
Please don't eliminate this step, it
would be false economy.
5. Install. Plug the cable into the
RGBI Connector port at the back of
the C-128 (reference page 649 of the
System Guide), plug the cable's RCA
connector into the Composite Video
Input jack on whatever monitor you're
using. Push down the "40/80 DISPLAY"
key on your C-128 keyboard and hit
the RESET switch, or simply
hit the "ESC" key and then "x" if
you're already in 40-column mode.
6. Adjust The Monitor. You may have
to adjust your monitor for best
display. This is definitely true if
you're using a color monitor. When
you have an 80 character wide
display, that's 640 dots (pixels)
that the screen has to be able to
show along each horizontal line. And
it should show them clearly enough
for you to distinguish each separate
dot. That's really pushing the
capabilities of some color monitors.
(Standard, inexpensive monochrome
monitors should have no problem
showing these dots; they actually
work best for this particular
application. But go ahead and try
the available adjustments anyway.)
The adjustments that you are most
concerned about are: Sharpness or
Focus, Brightness or Intensity, and
Contrast. Color-specific adjustments
such as Tint, Hue, etc. will
generally not be critical; experiment
with them last. Sharpness,
Brightness, and Contrast all
interact; when you change one, the
others usually have to be changed
also. We want to get the best,
clearest display that your monitor is
capable of. Here's the key.
Turn DOWN the Contrast (usually
Counter-Clockwise) as far as you can,
and still see something on your
screen. Turn UP Brightness
(Clockwise?) to compensate. If your
screen suddenly starts to expand or
"balloon" in all directions, back off
the Brightness a bit. Twiddle with
these two controls until you get
your best image. Just remember, if
you have a choice, turn Contrast DOWN
and Brightness UP.
Now adjust Sharpness for the
clearest dot patterns. Try to get
the individual dots that make up each
letter and character on the screen.
Readjust Contrast and Brightness as
needed. When you're satisfied that
these are set the best they can be,
then it's time to experiment with
changes to Hue, Tint, etc.
7. Sound. Don't throw away your
40-column video cable yet! If you
want sound, you still need that cable,
so leave it plugged in at the back of
the computer. Assuming that your
monochrome monitor has a SOUND input
jack/connector, plug in the proper
wire from the cable to that input. If
the cable has several plugs (usually
of different colors) and you don't
know which one is sound, don't worry.
Just try each plug in the monitor,
the wrong one won't hurt anything; it
simply won't give the proper sound.
If you get unusual noise or
humming, that's the wrong plug; try
another one. With no program
running, you shouldn't hear anything
through the monitor's speaker. When
you think you've got it, run any
sound-producing program as a final
test. If the program produces sound
continuously, go ahead and swap plugs
while it's running until you hear
what you expect. (Tip: Mark that
wire/plug as your sound source, even
if just by wrapping a piece of
masking tape around it and writing
AUDIO or SOUND on that.)
8. ENJOY! Just remember that what
you now have is a monochrome,
black and white, version of the
80-column screen. And if you decide
you like it, just wait until you
see 80 columns in full color!
EDITOR'S NOTE: The chart on page 5 of this text is something that all 128 programmers should be aware of. If you are writing programs for public consumption, make sure your color scheme will work in 80-column monochrome mode.
The article (see below) goes on to explain that the drawback to using the 80 column mode this way is that you bypass the RGB signal and are only accessing the 80 column monochrome channel. So, all you are left with are three colours: black, white and gray. Anything in colour is translated into these three so-called colours. The article gives a detailed table of how these colours are translated.
It then goes on and provides you with a parts list of what you will need to make this cable, along with Radio Shack SKU numbers for these parts, as well as their prices (back in the day). You are even given a diagram as to which pins to use, on the DB-9 connector.
So, with this information, I decided to make one of these cables for myself.
The only DB-9 connector I had was this breakout board style connector. But it should work well to test things out. If this cable works well, I can make up something more permanent later.
The RCA cable I used was just your standard cable you'd use to hook up your video signal (from your DVD, VCR or whatever player) to the video cable on the back of your T.V. - the yellow plug cable. I cut one end of the yellow RCA plug off and stripped the casing back to expose the two smaller wires inside. There's a "center" signal wire and an "outside" ground wire.
I proceeded to connect my RCA cable, as described in the article (center wire to pin 7 and ground wire to pin 1 or 2) and then taped everything up with electrical tape. Then, I plugged the 9 pin DIN end into my 128 and the yellow RCA plug into my RCA/S-video to VGA converter box, which then plugged into my VGA monitor via it's VGA output. If this works, it will be the first time in a long time, that I get to run my 128 in 80 column mode. I was really hoping the results were good.
And, wouldn’t you know it, the signal on my LCD monitor was clean and quite sharp. It looked better than what I expected it to be. The display would have been even sharper, if I were using an RGB monitor, but the composite signal still produced text that I could easily read. Of course, the real benefits of 80 column mode come into play when using software specifically written for the extra wide screen. Like DraCopy, for example. I much prefer the side-by-side interface, in 80 column mode, when compared to the top-bottom interface in standard mode.
But, what about the issue with everything in monochrome? So far, it’s only been a minor annoyance in games. For example, BurgerWhop. This is one of my favorite 128 games, but it’s only playable in 80 column mode. It looks great, but some of the burger ingredients are black, which makes them invisible on the black screen. A minor annoyance for, what I consider to be, the best version of Burger Time available on the Commodore 64 or 128, which I could only play on an emulator, until now.
However, gaming wasn’t the main reason why I wanted to utilize 80 column mode, on my 128. It’s the applications that I wanted to run, which I couldn’t do before; applications like GEOS. GEOS, for the most part, is a monochrome application. So, it looks perfectly fine in 80 column mode, with this RCA cable. I’m quite confident that most of the other business applications, for the 128, will also look just fine in monochrome.
I did come across a couple of issues (colour-wise) with applications published in Loadstar 128, like Master File II. However, they were easily fixed by changing a few lines in the BASIC code. That's one of the nice things about software in Loadstar: for the most part, they publish software in such a way that you can easily examine and tinker with the code.
It is really surprising at how important a resource Loadstar was for the average Commodore user, back in the day, before there was the Internet. I’m finding that there is quite a bit of useful information, even for today, locked away in it’s electronic pages.
HOW TO MAKE A C128 80-COLUMN CABLE
by Edward J. Corr
You've got your Commodore 128 up
and running. BASIC 7.0 is great; and
you've found interesting 128 and CP/M
software, both commercial and public
domain. And now you're wondering
about 80-column mode. Would you like
it? Would it be truly better in some
applications? Do you have to buy a
$300 RGB monitor to find out?
Not necessarily.
"Would you believe..." you can
find out for only about $7.00, and a
little work on your part. If you can
solder, or have a friend who will do
that small chore for you, you can
easily check out 80-column mode. All
you need is a video cable that can
access it and a standard, NTSC
Composite-input monitor. Sorry, a TV
won't work here unless it also has
direct video input; or unless it's
hooked up to a video cassete recorder
(VCR) that will take auxilliary video
input. But that's another article in
itself.
What you will achieve with the
help of this special cable is a
monochrome (black and white) version
of the 80-column screen. The only
limitation this causes is in the
selection of colors. With the
monochrome arrangement, you can have
three screen colors: black, white,
and gray. This can work just fine
as long as your software has made the
right choices, or gives you the
option to make changes to all assigned
colors. Otherwise some screen
messages, images, etc. may become
invisible when normally different
colors translate into the same color
as your monochrome background color.
Let me explain. The C-128 puts
out 16 different colors on the
80-column RGB "color" screen. The 80-
column "monochrome" screen has three
color choices. Somehow 16 colors
must be squeezed down to three. That
means that five or six different RGB
colors can come out as the same color
in monochrome. The translation table
appears on the next page:
RGB Color Monochrome Color
--------------------------------------
1. BLACK BLACK
2. WHITE WHITE
3. DARK RED GRAY
4. LIGHT CYAN WHITE
5. LIGHT PURPLE WHITE
6. DARK GREEN GRAY
7. DARK BLUE GRAY
8. LIGHT YELLOW WHITE
9. DARK PURPLE GRAY
10. DARK YELLOW GRAY
11. LIGHT RED WHITE
12. DARK CYAN GRAY
13. MEDIUM GRAY BLACK
14. LIGHT GREEN WHITE
15. LIGHT BLUE WHITE
16. LIGHT GRAY GRAY
For example, your background
color is white and a screen message
gets printed in light purple. Since
both of these translate to white in
monochrome, they both end up the same
color, and the message is now
invisible - like the proverbial black
cat in the coal bin. The message,
like the cat, is still there. You
just can't see it since it's now the
identical color as its surroundings
(white letters on a white background).
But, except for this particular
problem, there's no reason why you
can't use your non-RGB monitor for
80-column programs. Here's what you
do.
All of the following parts are
available from various sources. Radio
Shack part numbers (P/N) and prices
are given only as a universal
reference. Where you get these things
makes little difference. The only
item where quality can vary
considerable is the cable; don't try
to save pennies here unless you're
very sure of what you are getting.
1 each DB-9 Male Connector \\
P/N 276-1537 $1.49
1 each DB-9 Connector Hood \\
P/N 276-1539 $1.99
1 each Cable, RCA - RCA, 6' \\
P/N 42-2367 $2.19
NOTE ABOUT RCA - RCA CABLE:
We will be cutting off one end of this cable. If you already have good
quality shielded cable, by all means
use it. I suggest that you keep the
cable four to five feet long; I find
three feet too limiting. Just be sure
it has FULL braid, not the new/cheap
junk that is only partially covered
by braided shielding. You will also
need the RCA plug for one end (such
as the Radio Shack P/N 274-383 or
274-319 or 274-451 packages). For the
best image results, you may even
substitute 75 ohm video cable. Just
be aware that you will give up quite
a bit of cable flexibility, which may
be important on a cramped desk top.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Prepare the Cable. If you are
using an RCA-to-RCA cable, simply cut
off one of the connectors and strip
back the insulation, exposing the
center conductor and the shield. If
you're using bulk cable, go ahead and
solder on the RCA connector, center
conductor to center pin, shield to
connector barrel. Now go ahead and
strip back the other end of the
cable.
2. Add the DB-9 Connector. Time to
solder on the DB-9 connector. Solder
the center conductor of the cable to
Pin 7 of the connector. Solder the
shield braid to either Pin 1 or 2 of
the connector, whichever is
convenient for you. You can even
solder it to both pins, they're tied
together inside the C-128 anyway.
3. Check Your Work. Double check the
solder joints, especially the DB-9
pins. If you used Pins 2 and 7, add
insulation between them (a piece of
electrical tape, sleeving, RTV,
etc.). Consider adding insulation
even if you used Pins 1 and 7; a
cable occasionally gets pushed back
into its connector. If too much
wire was exposed by stripping, it
could bend over and short to other
pins.
4. Add the Hood to the Connector.
Please don't eliminate this step, it
would be false economy.
5. Install. Plug the cable into the
RGBI Connector port at the back of
the C-128 (reference page 649 of the
System Guide), plug the cable's RCA
connector into the Composite Video
Input jack on whatever monitor you're
using. Push down the "40/80 DISPLAY"
key on your C-128 keyboard and hit
the RESET switch, or simply
hit the "ESC" key and then "x" if
you're already in 40-column mode.
6. Adjust The Monitor. You may have
to adjust your monitor for best
display. This is definitely true if
you're using a color monitor. When
you have an 80 character wide
display, that's 640 dots (pixels)
that the screen has to be able to
show along each horizontal line. And
it should show them clearly enough
for you to distinguish each separate
dot. That's really pushing the
capabilities of some color monitors.
(Standard, inexpensive monochrome
monitors should have no problem
showing these dots; they actually
work best for this particular
application. But go ahead and try
the available adjustments anyway.)
The adjustments that you are most
concerned about are: Sharpness or
Focus, Brightness or Intensity, and
Contrast. Color-specific adjustments
such as Tint, Hue, etc. will
generally not be critical; experiment
with them last. Sharpness,
Brightness, and Contrast all
interact; when you change one, the
others usually have to be changed
also. We want to get the best,
clearest display that your monitor is
capable of. Here's the key.
Turn DOWN the Contrast (usually
Counter-Clockwise) as far as you can,
and still see something on your
screen. Turn UP Brightness
(Clockwise?) to compensate. If your
screen suddenly starts to expand or
"balloon" in all directions, back off
the Brightness a bit. Twiddle with
these two controls until you get
your best image. Just remember, if
you have a choice, turn Contrast DOWN
and Brightness UP.
Now adjust Sharpness for the
clearest dot patterns. Try to get
the individual dots that make up each
letter and character on the screen.
Readjust Contrast and Brightness as
needed. When you're satisfied that
these are set the best they can be,
then it's time to experiment with
changes to Hue, Tint, etc.
7. Sound. Don't throw away your
40-column video cable yet! If you
want sound, you still need that cable,
so leave it plugged in at the back of
the computer. Assuming that your
monochrome monitor has a SOUND input
jack/connector, plug in the proper
wire from the cable to that input. If
the cable has several plugs (usually
of different colors) and you don't
know which one is sound, don't worry.
Just try each plug in the monitor,
the wrong one won't hurt anything; it
simply won't give the proper sound.
If you get unusual noise or
humming, that's the wrong plug; try
another one. With no program
running, you shouldn't hear anything
through the monitor's speaker. When
you think you've got it, run any
sound-producing program as a final
test. If the program produces sound
continuously, go ahead and swap plugs
while it's running until you hear
what you expect. (Tip: Mark that
wire/plug as your sound source, even
if just by wrapping a piece of
masking tape around it and writing
AUDIO or SOUND on that.)
8. ENJOY! Just remember that what
you now have is a monochrome,
black and white, version of the
80-column screen. And if you decide
you like it, just wait until you
see 80 columns in full color!
EDITOR'S NOTE: The chart on page 5 of this text is something that all 128 programmers should be aware of. If you are writing programs for public consumption, make sure your color scheme will work in 80-column monochrome mode.
